It is known design practice in the art of automotive body design to provide rearwardly positioned passenger seat assemblies in a vehicle passenger compartment wherein the vehicle floor structure of the vehicle passenger compartment is formed with a bi-level configuration. An upper portion of the floor structure supports a seat frame for the lower seat portion of the automotive seat assembly, the seat frame including a pivotal support for a seat back portion. The seat assembly includes means for adjusting the angular position of the seat back portion relative to the plane of the upper portion of the floor structure. Provision is made for moving the seat back portion forward on its pivot axis so that it overlies the lower seat portion and for shifting the seat assembly forward for storage in the lower foot well portion of the floor structure.
An example of a stowable rear seat assembly of this kind is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,570,931. Other examples are disclosed in applicants' copending U.S. patent applications, Ser. No. 08/950,934, filed Oct. 15, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,839,773, issued Nov. 24, 1998, and 08/950,558, filed Oct. 15, 1997. Still another example is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/250,702, filed Feb. 16, 1999. These copending applications are assigned to the assignee of the present invention, and reference may be made to them for the purpose of supplementing the present disclosure. The subject matter of these copending applications is incorporated herein by reference.